Federal agents arrested former senior CIA officer David Rush on May 19 after discovering more than 300 gold bars at his Virginia home — and the New York Times reported on Wednesday that Rush had worked closely with Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg on a covert program to spy on China, the most specific account yet of his ties to the Pentagon’s second-highest official.
FBI agents found 303 gold bars weighing approximately 2.2 pounds each — more than $40 million in total — along with roughly $2 million in cash and more than 30 luxury watches at Rush’s home. Charged with theft of public money, Rush faces additional scrutiny with investigators alleging he built a fake “special access program” — the most classified tier of intelligence operation — and used it to divert government funds for personal gain, requesting gold bars and foreign currency between November 2025 and March 2026 under the cover of “work-related expenses.”
The secrecy architecture of such programs — known as SAPs — is what made the fraud possible. Even officials with top-secret clearances cannot look inside a SAP without specific authorisation, meaning Rush could run a fictional program with almost no risk of a colleague stumbling onto it. He also recruited two CIA colleagues to help give it the appearance of legitimacy and generated a fake government contract to support it.
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A 17-year CIA veteran, Rush worked in the agency’s Directorate of Science and Technology — the division that deploys cutting-edge technology in intelligence operations and maintains close ties with the Pentagon. His connection to Feinberg dates to Trump’s first term, when both men served on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board — a body tasked with giving the White House and intelligence agencies independent advice on spy programs and national security priorities. Feinberg chaired it.
NBC News reported earlier that Feinberg subsequently requested Rush serve as a CIA liaison to the Pentagon for a sensitive nuclear submarine program. The Times now reports the two men worked together specifically on a covert program targeting Chinese intelligence — a more extensive connection than previously established.
Feinberg, a billionaire founder of Cerberus Capital Management and major Trump donor, faces no accusations of wrongdoing. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called insinuations of a close professional relationship “completely false and embellished,” adding that Feinberg had never supported Rush’s career in any capacity. People briefed on the investigation told the Washington Post that Feinberg and the Pentagon had no involvement in whatever led Rush to obtain the gold bars.
The case triggered significant institutional fallout at the CIA. The agency placed several senior officials on administrative leave over how they handled Rush’s money requests and failed to act on early internal flags that his requests may not have been legitimate. CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred Rush’s “potential violations” to the FBI, which led to the May 19 arrest.
A magistrate judge last week ordered Rush held pending trial, citing flight risk and the danger he could pose to the community. His attorney argued for release, noting Rush faces only one count of theft of public funds and that every gold bar has been accounted for.
The case also exposed significant fabrications in Rush’s record. Court documents show Rush told government job applications he had earned degrees from Clemson University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and had served as a Navy pilot. None of it was true.
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